Selfless Duty
by CalleighB
Summary: Selfless Duty calls again. A Kataang oneshot dedication.


A Kataang oneshot dedicated to the memory of Lyralocke. My favorite Avatar fanfic was written by Lyralocke and it's titled 'One Week'. This is what happens shortly after Aang and Katara's first week together.

I don't own ATLA. I do own Nikka, pronounced (NEEKA).

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Katara walked into the tea shop in the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen. A gown of the lightest blue silk covering only one shoulder. It was sleeveless and tight at the waist and the way the dress moved when she walked, she felt like she was floating.

She and Aang had only been together for a little over one week. This was their first formal affair and she wanted to look beautiful for him. She walked in to the tea shop with Suki and Toph, and all eyes were upon them.

"You look amazing!" Aang gushed as she walked towards him.

"Thank you, Aang." Katara intended to reward his remark with a kiss but was cut off by Aang's finger pointing in the direction of her father.

"Dad, what are you doing here, what are you _all_ doing here?" She looked to her far right to see several water tribe warriors standing with Hakoda, cleaned up but still dressed very much water tribe.

Hakoda stepped forward and spoke softly. "Katara, you look lovely."

"Thank you, dad. I'm so glad you're here." She walked up to her father and hugged him fiercely. "Sokka took Suki, Toph and I dress shopping." Katara said, holding her dress out for all to see.

"You went dress shopping?" Hakoda smiled at Sokka.

"He loves shopping and has quite an eye for fashion." Katara quipped.

"I can't have my ladies looking ratty." Sokka shot back.

"Your ladies?" Toph said in a tone that sounded sarcastic, but was actually her normal voice. "One of your ladies is your sister and another is a 12-year-old, Loverboy."

"I'm just saying, I like to surround myself with good looking women."

"Seriously?" Suki smiled and walked towards her boyfriend. Loving his carefree manner and knowing well how the young man beside her used it to hide the fact that he felt things very deeply, like his love for family, friends and for her.

The other water tribe warriors rolled their eyes but Katara came to his rescue. "No, really, Sokka used almost all his money so we could have something nice to wear tonight. You're a wonderful brother!"

"Thank you. Is everyone ready to go?" Sokka said, looking at the water tribe group.

"You came in for a party?" Katara chuckled at her dad.

" I think we could all use a party." Hakoda remarked but then continued in a hushed voice. "But I thought maybe we could talk about something first. Could we meet everyone there?"

"Okay." She shrugged and then turned to Aang and her friends. "I'm gonna meet you guys there." They nodded and the tea shop quickly cleared.

As Aang headed outside he turned just in time to see to see a lone water tribe warrior handing Katara a single flower on his way towards the door. Aang stopped to gauge her expression. There was no blush, a slight smile and a quick "Thanks." Aang stood and waited for the other boy to leave and stared at Katara until he caught her eye. She smiled sweetly at him and he felt the chemistry between them as they stared at each other. He felt lost in her beauty and his face began to warm and he smiled at her and turned to leave.

"It's a nice afternoon, will you walk with me?" Hakoda pulled Katara from her trance and held out his arm as she took it proudly. She loved her father and missed being his little girl. She smiled and looked up at him, thinking that peacetime plus Aang plus her family equaled bliss. The fact that she felt like a princess in that dress didn't hurt, either.

"Katara," Hakoda started, "you turned 15 recently. I'm sorry I didn't mention it before."

"It's okay dad. We've had a lot to think about lately. I hadn't given it much thought either."

"Well, I picked this up a few days ago because it reminded me of you. " Hakoda reached in his pocket and handed her a thin copper bracelet with a snowflake design." I've heard copper has healing properties and I saw the snowflakes and I thought of you. Happy birthday, honey."

Katara's eyes welled and she hugged her father. Putting on the bracelet she said "thank you, dad, I love it! No one's given me a present in a long time," she paused "well., Aang did make me a necklace."

"The Avatar made you a necklace?" He spoke louder than he had intended.

"Not that kind of necklace, dad." Katara smirked. She thought this might be a good time to see how her father would feel if it had been _that _kind of necklace.

"There was one other thing I wanted to talk with you about before the party." Hakoda said.

"Okay."

"Well, being 15 means you'll be an adult next year." She stopped walking and stared at him, surprised that he was taking the conversation in the direction she'd wanted to go. "There's a young man, a warrior in our tribe, you know him. He's been asking about you."

"What do you mean?" She said cautiously.

"You'll be marrying age next year Katara, and more than one young man has told me what a beautiful young lady you've become. Well, one in particular has shown interest. He'd asked when you'd be coming home and I didn't know, so this party seemed like it might be a chance for everyone to get reacquainted."

"Reacquainted? Who is he?"

"It's Nikka. I know you two spoke a little on the fire nation ship while you were healing Aang ." Hakoda looked her in the eyes and spoke firmly, "I'm not trying to get you married and frankly, I'd be happier if you spent some time just enjoying being young. You haven't had much of that. But you deserve to be happy, Katara, and our tribe is small, so if you want to make a life with someone in the southern tribe…..I'm just saying he's a nice young man."

_Katara remembered back to when she was very young. A faded memory of her sitting next to her mother in someone's tent, women chatting, sewing and serving food. They were talking about that older girl who was marrying the man from the Earth Kingdom. The women said she could have done better to marry a water tribe man but Katara remembered that years later when they came home to visit they brought their first child and they looked like they were in love, like they were happy. _

Katara spoke slowly and seriously. "Dad, how would you feel if I didn't marry water tribe? Sokka's with Suki, she's not water tribe, you're okay with her, right?"

"Yes, I like Suki very much. And all I've ever wanted for you and Sokka was to be happy. Why do you ask, Katara?"

Hakoda had seen Katara's concern and affection for Aang at both the invasion and on the fire nation ship. He knew she cared for him deeply and quickly ran through his mind the other young men he knew Katara had met in her travels. She certainly didn't seem to pay Haru or Teo any attention. The new Firelord was with Lady Mai now and the young men from the swamp didn't seem to like to wear pants so Aang jumped to the front of his mind.

"Dad, I'm seeing someone." She paused. "More than seeing, I'm in love with him."

"You're in love?" Hakoda heard his own voice and was surprised by how strong it sounded because inside he felt shaky. When had she grown up? How had he missed the stage of flirting and crushes? Did she know what love was?

"The Avatar," he said. Knowing that love takes time and Aang was the one she had grown up with.

"Yeah." She willed herself not to get emotional . Her father had the ability to end her happiness right here and now and she knew it. Her mind raced with what to say to convince him. "He's wonderful, dad."

She wasn't surprised he knew. Her father was smart and perceptive. She needed to prove to him that she'd thought this through. "I've given this a lot of thought, dad. I know we're young, and being with the Avatar makes things a little more complicated but he's worth it."

"Life _is_ challenging enough, Katara. And you're right, being with the Avatar will make things even harder. Will you be in danger? Will you spend your life travelling? You've thought about all this?"

"Yes, dad. Aang and I take our safety seriously. We all do. We keep up with our training and we're surrounded by guards or friends when we travel. You know the rebellions haven't been as bad as they'd expected. The Earth King has given us a house near the University and that'll be our home base between Aang and Sokka's meetings and it's where I'll be when I'm not travelling or working at the healing huts. My life is here right now, dad. "

She wanted to add that her future was with Aang but things were going well and she didn't want to mess it up.

"I guess it's okay as long as you're with your brother. Will you at least come home for a visit?"

"We're all coming back soon, dad, I can hardly wait to see Gran!

We'll talk more when you come for your visit."

"Thank you, dad. You'll talk to Nikka, right?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

They reached the Earth Kingdom palace just as the sun had set and as they walked in, a concerned Aang walked up to Katara. "Is everything okay?"

"My birthday present." She smiled and lifted her wrist to show him her bracelet. "We also talked about you."

Aang froze. "What do you mean?" He stood and stared at Katara, knowing how important Hakoda was to their relationship.

"I mean, I hope it's okay Aang, but I told him about us."

"What did he say?"

"I think we should step outside" Katara said seriously. Aang couldn't hide the worried look on his face.

They walked outside to the fountain and she continued "I'll be 16 in less than a year and, well, we've always been honest with each other, right?"

"Right." He said slowly. Now he was really worried.

Katara paused and wondered if honesty was all it was cracked up to be. She cleared her mind and began. "My dad said that one of the water tribe guys (_she was going to use the word men but caught herself just in time. She didn't want to bring attention to the fact that they were so much older than he was_) wanted to get to know me better. He didn't know when or if I'd be coming home so they came here instead."

Katara saw the look of terror on Aang's face and her urge to protect him grew stronger. She cursed herself for telling him. She started over.

"There's aren't many girls in my tribe, my age. If a guy wants to be with water tribe then they don't have much to choose from. Plus, I'm the Chief's daughter so that looks good. He barely knows me, Aang. I asked dad how he would feel if I ended up with someone outside our tribe and he asked who I had in mind, so we talked about us." She motioned her hand between her and Aang.

"He likes you, he likes us." She took hold of his hands. "He wants me to be happy. You make me happy." Aang looked unconvinced and Katara started feeling desperate. "I'm in love with you, Aang. I don't want to be with anyone else."

Aang wouldn't give up Katara for the world but as the Avatar he had learned all about selfless duty and he considered her importance to the tribe. "Who is he?" Aang said, sounding more jealous than he'd intended but just about as jealous as he felt.

"That doesn't matter. The point is, my father approves of us. He's letting me stay in Ba Sing Se to work, to learn how to be a better healer, to travel with you, to be with you."

Aang heard about half of what she was saying. He was mad. Who was this jerk coming in off the street to court Katara? Aang was the Avatar. He'd been her best friend for over a year. They'd shared their memories and dreams, life and death, terrifying moments and beautiful sunsets, their first kiss.

But this wasn't about him.

This was about her. What was best for her. For her family. For her people.

What if Katara was better off without him. This wasn't the first time this thought had crossed his mind and he felt the need to come clean. He took her hands in his and spoke slowly.

"Katara, you're everything to me!" He brushed his thumbs tenderly over the smooth skin of her hands. "The thought of you with someone else…" He trailed off and turned his head away. "But, you'd be home with your family, you'd help rebuild your tribe. You'd have a home and be safe. Sokka teased me the other day about having air babies but it's no joke. The world is watching who I marry, what kind of kids I have, why would anyone live with that pressure if they could avoid it. "

She tried to interrupt but he held her hands firmly and shook his head. He needed to get this out and she knew him well enough to know to wait her turn.

"I'm young, Katara. They're older. If you stay with me, it'll be years before I can commit to you, in front of everyone, marry you I mean. If you want that then maybe you should be with someone who can give you that right now."

"Stop!" She'd heard enough. She was getting nervous and losing her temper.

"No! You need to hear this, Katara!" Aang collected himself and spoke quietly. "I don't know what's next for me but it's always something. The rebellions, another war, I could die, again. This war is over and it could be all good now, but it might not be. You need to know that. I need to know that you understand that."

She felt her face change and her eyes water. She loved him so much. She knew the only reason he'd ever break up with her would be for her own good. And how could you be mad at someone for that? Like she had done earlier with her father, Katara now had to prove to Aang that she'd considered these problems and had come to terms with them on her own. She calmed her mind and her voice and spoke as reassuringly as she could.

"If I lose you, Aang, whether it's because you die in battle or because you walk away right now, I'll be devastated either way." She shook her head and continued. "I belong with you."

"And I'm not ready to get married. You're not the only one who needs to grow up, Aang. I'm dealing with things now. I have friends. I'm finding out who I am and what _I_ can do. I'm a better person when I'm with you, Aang." Her eyes were full now and she was thankful for the partial darkness – she wanted to be taken seriously. "I'm a better person _because _of you…..the rest we just take as it comes. We can do anything together, I thought you knew that."

She stepped forward and hugged him tightly. She held the back of his head with one hand and whispered in his ear "I love you so much, Aang."

He closed his eyes as they welled with tears. He wouldn't be whole without her but he would live his life that way if he had to.

"They're asking for you inside, Twinkletoes." Toph's voice cut the tension. "I told them you were outside making out with your girlfriend but they wanted you anyway. The band is gonna start and they need you two to dance or something."

"I'm an idiot." Aang whispered back to Katara.

"Tell me something I don't know." Toph shot back. "You've been told." And with that she walked away.

Aang and Katara watched Toph leave and smiled at each other. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He was warm and gentle and they held onto each other tightly until they were breathless.

"Wanna show the Earth Kingdom how to dance?" He grinned.

She could hardly wait.


End file.
